Background

five years old as a Christian, I knew about the gospel. About redemption and forgiveness – and I loved the bible. [7]

Earlier in the book she claims that when she was at University ‘I’d been a Christian for a couple of years’. [8] Looking back Stroud sees ‘certain pointers’ that ‘care for the poor would take over my whole life’. [9] Friends bought her a subscription to National Geographic for her eighth birthday and ‘I remember lying across a massive Queen Anne armchair in our house in France, transfixed for a good couple of hours by photographs of famine victims in Bangladesh’. [9] At this stage she refers to ‘our house in France’, though elsewhere she notes that her family lived in Surrey and other references suggest she was brought up in Surrey. [10]

Her parents were ‘a greater influence’. They ‘believed in action too’. Her mother was a ‘sister in a cancer hospice’ and her father in ‘international banking’. [10]

She notes that her mother ‘offered to help’ in a ‘refugee camp’ near where they lived in Surrey which housed Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin. Stroud says that ‘when I was about five or six I spent some of my holidays with her there in the big old Army barracks’. [10] Given the Ugandan Asians were given ninety days to leave on the seventh of August 1972[11] when Stroud was seven years and four months old, she was seven or perhaps eight at the time of those holidays. Similarly she mentions that her family ‘adopted’ a Vietnamese family. ‘I remember’, she writes, ‘at the age of about twelve, helping to scrub out a house, then to collect furniture and move it in.’ [10] Again, given that the Vietnamese refugees, the so called ‘boat people’, arrived in Britain from May 1979 onwards[12] she must have been at least fourteen years old.

Later she notes that she attended a ‘French University’ by which time she had been a Christian for ‘a couple of years’. [8] Later she graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in languages. [13]

She used, she recalled ‘to work in the city in the holidays’ and ‘assumed I’d follow my father into a career in the financial world… but… banking didn’t fill me with passion’. By contrast, she noted of her time in Hong Kong: ‘nothing stopped my love of being in the Walled city. I loved it when rats ran across my feet in the dank darkness of sewer-like alleyways. I’d never felt this elation working in a bank.’ [14] She says of this period that she ‘adored living in London’. [15]

University to Hong Kong

Stroud's biography at the Centre for Social Justice (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive) states that: 'Philippa Stroud has spent the last seventeen years in poverty-fighting projects and is author of a book on social injustice.' [16] It notes that Stroud undertook the following roles:

'In 1987-89 Philippa worked in Hong Kong and Macau amongst the addict community.'[16]

'From 1989-96 Philippa pioneered a four-stage residential support project enabling homeless people to move off the streets and to become contributing members of the community.'[16] This appears to have been the Bedford based King's Arms Project. In her ghost written memoir it is noted that King's Arms 'is a Christian church in association with New Frontiers International and a member of the Evangelical Alliance'[17]

'From 2001-2003 Philippa has been developing the Bridge Project in Birmingham to care for the homeless, addicts and those in debt situations.'[16]

Some of this period is covered in Stroud's ghost-written how to memoir, God's Heart for the Poor, which appears to be the book referred to as being on 'social injustice'.

At 22 years old in 1987 Stroud flew to Hong Kong and spent time in Hong Kong and later in Macau working with drug addicts and others with various social problems. Stroud arrived in Hong Kong on the same day as her future husband David, in August 1987. After eight months – around March/April 1988 – Stroud says she was dispatched to Macau to get some kind of ‘holiday’. Stroud says that she was in Macau running a ‘drug withdrawal’ house for ‘eight months’ on pp. 33 of the book and on page 34 says that she was there for ‘ten months, split into thirty-day periods of continuous twenty-four-hour duty…After the thirty days I would take a four-day break in Hong Kong’ [17]

Newfrontiers and King's Arms 1989-1996

Stroud returned to Britain on 18 February 1989 and within four days was working with the Newfrontiers organization and with David Devenish who had been a mentor to Stroud’s then fiancé and later husband David. [17]

Stroud notes that at that point she her fiancé had ‘spent only seven and a half weeks together as a couple’. [17]

In August 2006, Conservative MP Ed Vaizey volunteered at the Project as part of the "Inner City Challenge". Apparently blogging from his Blackberry, Vaizey writes:

the King's Arms Project, to give it its full title, is a nightshelter, hostel and onward support scheme run by a local church. I'm here at the suggestion of the Centre for Social Justice, to spend a week working, to try and gain a better understanding of the problems faced by the homeless, and by a charity working in this sector.

He described the staff as "all mainly young, in their early twenties, all are Christian but religion is not on display during the evening"; adding that "even the homeless think the country's gone to the dogs".[19]

In 2009, the Project celebrated "20 years of seeing lives transform". Founder Stroud offered a message for this anniversary: "Keep a heart for the one and a vision for the thousands".[20]

The Bridge Project, Birmingham, 1998-

Both Philippa and David Stroud subsequently moved to Birmingham. According to the King's Arms Project:

During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there.[21]

Philippa Stroud notes that David Stroud 'was asked in 1996 to head up a church planting initiative in the Midlands and we moved there at the end of 1998'[17] There Philippa worked on a similar project which is referred to as the Bridge Project. This is part of a wider initiative in Birmingham lead by David Stroud, formally set up as an organisation on 13 September 2002 and registered as a charity on 20 December 2000 as the Oasis Church Trust Birmingham (Charity No 1084191).[22]

ACOBA recognised that Stroud had been a co-founder of the think-tank and served as Executive Director in her time with government, so she would simply be returning to her previous role. Stroud resumed the role in October 2015. [26]

Christian Action Research and Education

Philippa Stroud listed as 'head' of the CAREconfidential helpline in 2005

Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) is an evangelical organisation which promotes a homophobic and anti-abortionist conservative agenda. [27] In 2005, Stroud was listed as Head of the CAREconfidential helpline, responsible for "Pregnancy crisis, post-abortion counselling".[28] She has also previously worked as a Visiting Lecturer for CARE.[29]

Conservative Activist and candidate

Stroud stood as a Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in 2005 and for Sutton and Cheam in 2010, but lost in both elections. She was expected to win the Sutton and Cheam seat from Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow, but Burstow held on to win with a majority of 1,608 votes (despite a 1.5% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Tories).[30] For her campaign in Sutton and Cheam, Stroud received a donation of £2,000 from the multi-millionaire self-labelled member of the "God squad" Michael Farmer.[31]

Stroud's decision to join the Conservatives was due to her "conviction that the values of personal responsibility and compassion sit best within the Conservative tradition".[32] In an interview in 2009, she was asked about the importance of Christians being involved in politics. Stroud responded:

It is massively important because we have a unique understanding of the value of human beings and we know just how important every single person, regardless of background or of what they can contribute to society. We, possibly more than anybody else, have a responsibility to speak up for the vulnerable. It is an idea that is often referred to in politics but not often understood. Christians, I believe, uniquely carry that vision and that is why we must be involved.[33]

Views and beliefs

On Social justice and inequality

Stroud believes that one of the causes of increasing inequality is the welfare state as opposed to the deliberate policy decisions of Conservative and Labour governments which favour the rich. She cites Mind the Gap by Ferdinand Mount, the former head of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit, as a book which 'challenged my thinking on poverty. He asks why the gap between rich and poor in Britain is growing. One of his answers is that the welfare state has crushed the help that was traditionally provided by family and the voluntary sector.'[34]

Philippa Stroud also attends the Newfrontiers Church. Number 7 of the Church's Vision and Values affirms that:

A Church where Biblical family life is highly valued, where husband and wife embrace male servant leadership and joyful female submission, where godly parenting is taught and practised, and where the special value of singleness and its unique opportunities are affirmed.[38]

Who would voters be electing in Sutton and Cheam - Philippa Stroud or her husband? The question must be asked whether, in the event she was elected to Parliament, she would on any occasion ‘submit’ to her husband's will and vote in a way that he thought was right, even if it contradicted her own position, the promises she had made to voters, or the manifesto on which she was elected?[39]

Views on abortion

Stroud authored a short comment piece for the newsletter of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive[40]) in which she writes on the "hope for change", comparing the anti-abortionist movement to that of Nelson Mandela fighting apartheid.

Accusations of homophobia

In May 2010, The Observer published an article with the standfirst: "Conservative high-flyer Philippa Stroud founded a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals by driving out their 'demons'".[41] In 1989, Stroud founded the King's Arms Project, a church and shelter in Bedford. The authors quoted several individuals who claimed to have been subjected to "treatment" at the Project:

Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. "Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman [Stroud] who had come back from Hong Kong and had the power to set me free," Abi told the Observer.

"She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong. The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus.

"T" said he moved to Bedford because he believed the church could help him stop having homosexual thoughts. "I was trying to convince myself that a change was possible but, at the same time, a part of me didn't believe it was possible," he said. "The church's approach was not that it was sinful to be homosexual but that it was sinful to act on it. The aim is to get a person to a position where they don't have these sinful emotions and thoughts."

"T" said it was only after he "took a break" from the church that his depression lifted. "It was the church's attitude towards my sexuality that was the issue," he recalled.

"My impression is that she genuinely cares about people," he said of Stroud. "Her personal beliefs may get in the way sometimes, but she is a positive person."

Also quoted was Angela Paterson, an administrator at the Bedford church, who said: "With hindsight, the thing that freaks me out was everybody praying that a demon would be cast out of me because I was gay. Anything – drugs, alcohol or homosexuality, they thought you had a demon in you."[42]

Stroud's response

The Observer subsequently received a complaint from Stroud, summarised by the newspaper as follows:

Since publication, we have received a legal complaint from Philippa Stroud. She disputes the testimonies contained in the article and states that she has helped individuals of all sexual orientations to deal with a multitude of problems such as drug addiction, self-harming, alcoholism, eating disorders, and sexual abuse through prayer as well as offering practical help and advice. She also says that she has never founded a church, let alone a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals. She has never prayed or advised any person to change his or her sexuality and has never countenanced any person for whom she has had responsibility attempting to question any person's sexual orientation or to re-orient them. In addition, the reference to demonic activity in her book "God's help for the poor' does not relate to sexual orientation but to those who have been involved in occult practices, including violence and sexual abuse. She adds that the New Frontiers Church network is based in the UK and has over 600 branches worldwide of which 220 are in the UK and no more than 30 are in the USA. It is not part of the US Evangelical Movement.[43]

However, although Stroud claims never to have founded a church, in their 2007 report[44] submitted to the Charity Commission, the King's Arms Project states that:

During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there.

Throughout its history the King’s Arms has been caring for poor and disadvantaged people in Bedfordshire. The King’s Arms Project commenced work among Bedford’s street-homeless in 1989 when a Residential House located in Clarendon Street, Bedford was established. The Project has developed with additional houses and elements; all of which have been set up to cater for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people. Five new churches have been established in the UK, Africa and the USA by members of the King’s Arms Church:

David and Philippa Stroud, the founders of the King’s Arms led a team to South Birmingham in 1998.

Martin and Louise White led a team to North Birmingham in 1998.

Matt and Philippa Hatch led a team to Leeds in 2002.

Drew and Megan Land went to Durban, South Africa in 2003.

Euan and Sarah Crane went to North Carolina in 2007.

In her statement, Stroud said:

I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise... The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting.

When the online magazine PinkNews.co.uk emphasised to Stroud's spokesperson that The Observer's prime claim was not that she believed homosexuality to be an illness, but rather that it seemed she believed homosexuality could be overcome through prayer and the removal of "demons", a spokeperson responded that: "We will not be adding to or subtracting to [sic] the statement."[46]

Pink News journalist Jessica Green reports that John Rubinstein, of law firm Rubinstein Phillips, is representing Stroud. The firm contacted a number of media outlets following the accusations to remind them of their responsibilities under Section 106 of the Representation of the Peoples' Act, which states that it is illegal to publish a false statement of fact relating to character or conduct, unless it can be demonstrated that there were reasonable grounds to believe the statement to be true. While Stroud's response asserted that she was not homophobic, nor believed homosexuality to be an illness, John Rubinstein declined to comment on whether Stroud believes that homosexuality is caused by demonic possession, or that she was part of an organisation which followed this doctrine.[47]

Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron defended Stroud, stating on the BBC's Asian Network that "She believes in gay equality" and has made "a very clear statement to say she was completely misreported".[48]

A dedicated Facebook group set up by Lib Dem councillor for Onslow, Chris Ward, with over 5100 members, called upon David Cameron to sack Stroud.

'First the B&B incident, then the Julian Lewis incident, now it emerges one of his candidates likes to pray the gay away. Cameron made a big noise about how he deselected a homophobic Tory candidate "within minutes" (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/28/cameron-took-action-on-homophobic-candidate-within-minutes/). Any sort of conversion therapy can cause serious damage to LGBT people who believe their sexuality is a mental affliction. If Cameron cares even the slightest about the LGBT community as he says he does, he must sack Philippa Stroud.' [49]

"What Jesus said about... Expelling demons"

A document by Stroud's King's Arms Project titled "What Jesus said about... Expelling demons" is available on their website. It features the following:

Recognise demonic symptoms (Mark 9:16-18)

Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.

Further testimony about the casting out of "demons" and the "curing" of homosexuality

Another man commenting as 'QuickFix' on The Guardian blog - of whom journalist Andrew Brown wrote "I am satisfied both that he exists and was a member of Philippa Stroud's church in Bedford" - explained that Stroud's church in Bedford was not conventionally right-wing. The issue of homosexuality was subject to disbelief and confusion rather than overt hostility. Social action was a central feature of the church's work. As 'QuickFix' explains:

Right from the beginning one of the church's main principles was helping the poor … The majority of people in their church whose political views were on view, were much more Labour inclined than Conservative. I personally was quite surprised when I heard that Philippa was with the Conservative party.

Front cover of God's Heart for the Poor by Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard, published in 1999

According to 'QuickFix', the existence of demons was a given within the church:

Demons could lead to anything -- anger, or jealousy, as well as the kind of specific flaw – it was often not just that you had a demon matched to a specific transgression, but that you had demons generally. Often it was very matter of fact. The belief that a demon was present would come out of a prayer session. There might be manifestations -- violent shaking, screaming, lying on the floor. Sometimes there were none. I once saw Philippa cast out a demon in French: that stuck in my mind, I was really impressed that she was fluent enough to talk to a demon in French. There were solid Christians who would talk about themselves as having had a prayer session in which they got rid of the demon in themselves, though that would happen more within small groups or the team on the homeless project than with the whole church.[51]

'QuickFix' was a member of the King's Arms in the 1990s and although has "no knowledge" of Stroud's current views, "it is categorically the case that homosexuality in that church was regarded as a sin, the inclination to which could be cured through prayer and counselling". Although he did not experience exorcism, 'QuickFix', a gay man, was subjected to the church's "attempts to heal" him, although "the church as a whole was pretty big on demons as the source of many an ill". He "personally witnessed Philippa casting them out of people". 'QuickFix' perceives Stroud not as "an evil bigot, but someone who has quite a positive record of helping her community, finely balanced with monumental delusion".[52]

God's Heart for the Poor

The article in The Observer asserted that "Stroud wrote a book, God's Heart for the Poor, in which she explains how to deal with people showing signs of "demonic activity"".[53] Although Stroud is credited as co-author of 'God's Heart for the Poor' (1999) by online bookshops,[54] the other listed author, Christine Leonard, describes the book as a "ghosted biography/how to for Philippa Stroud".[55] The article Stroud contributed to Pro-Life Times in 2001 describes Stroud as "co-author of God's Heart for the Poor".[56]

↑The first wave of refugees to arrive in the UK were those taken aboard a British military vessel in May 1979. As the ‘’Washington Post’’ reported at the time: ‘After several days' delay that dismayed some of her own Conservative supporters in Parliament and the press here, Thatcher decided last night to allow resettlement in Britain of 982 Vietnamese refugees rescued from the South China Sea by the British freighter Sibonga.’: Leonard Downie Jr. 'Boat People' Pose Risky Political Issue for Thatcher, ‘’The Washington Post’’ May 30, 1979, Wednesday, Final Edition, First Section; A16